The West has failed in its principal, post 9/11 objective: to deny terrorists sanctuary. Islamic State is a terrorist enclave in the heart of the Middle East. Yet, the West’s response to this has been strikingly, and shockingly, lacklustre, I argue in the magazine this week. Barack Obama’s main preoccupation seems to be stressing that US ground troops will not be sent in to destroy Islamic State. While the British response is even feebler, to bomb Islamic State—but only on one side of the Iraqi/Syrian border. Even, the French who are hitting IS on both sides of the border, aren’t sending in ground troops.
This lack of Western leadership is creating an opportunity for Vladimir Putin. Putin’s initial intervention in Syria had little to do with defeating Islamic State—tellingly, Russia’s initial military strikes were not against Islamic State but other rebel groups with the aim of preventing the fall of the Assad regime.
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